


nighttime lullaby

by skeletondreams



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anakin Skywalker Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Anakin Skywalker Leaves the Jedi Order, Baby Luke, F/M, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, POV Padmé Amidala, Post-Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, baby leia, kinda introspective, mentions of a lot of other characters, mentions of breastfeeding a baby, think i succeeded, tried to make this just cute and happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:47:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25657666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skeletondreams/pseuds/skeletondreams
Summary: Padmé wakes up in the middle of the night, and figures out her husband is in the nursery with the twins. She joins him.
Relationships: Padmé Amidala & Leia Organa, Padmé Amidala & Luke Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 12
Kudos: 151





	nighttime lullaby

It was still dark outside, when Padmé woke up.

She wasn’t sure what had awoken her, and a quick glance at the chrono told her it was only a few hours after she had gone to sleep. She rolled over, to cuddle up to Anakin and try to fall back asleep, only to find his side of the bed cold and empty.

She frowned.

He was _supposed_ to still be there, wasn’t he? He had turned in his lightsaber a few weeks ago, and the war was practically over. There was no reason for him to be gone. Or was it all a dream, like it was every other time she woke up like this? Wanting her husband, but waking to him being gone? 

The faint sound of a newborn’s cry, in the nursery on the other side of the hall, interrupted her thoughts and made her smile.

_There_ , that’s where Anakin was.

She got out of her bed, and, noticing a slight chill, put a silk robe on, over her nightgown. It was the one that Anakin usually wore, he must have forgotten to put it on. He was always so cold, but refused to sleep with a shirt on (not that Padmé was _complaining_ about that), so she had bought that for him, early on in their marriage.

Now, they had been married for three, almost four years, and their twin children had been born only weeks before. The nursery, which she had (thankfully, in retrospect) prepared in case she wasn’t able to go back to Naboo before the birth, had been hastily renovated to fit another crib, and she was happier than usual for Anakin’s presence, because, well-

She loved Luke and Leia with all her heart, but _Shiraya’s word_ , newborn twins were tiring.

Padmé was almost surprised by how naturally Anakin was taking to being a father. He hadn’t even known of their _conception_ until a little over a month ago, but she could see how he was trying to be the best parent to the twins that he could be. Padmé was doing the same, and she hoped the twins would be able to look back on their childhood fondly.

No Sith, no war, only parents that loved them.

Her thoughts were interrupted by another cry from the nursery, which made her instinctively start to walk towards it. No matter how introspective she was feeling tonight, it seemed that the twins needed her. It was likely that at least one of them was hungry, and even though Anakin was already there, that was something she could take care of much easier than he could. By now, he could make a bottle pretty fast, but she was already awake, so she thought she might as well do it herself.

She made it as far as the closed nursery door before she stopped, hearing something else coming from within.

It was singing.

It was _Anakin_ singing.

She couldn’t make out the words, and when she tried to listen closer, she still couldn’t determine what he was singing. Curious now, she listened at the door for a minute or so longer.

Anakin was starting the lullaby over again by the time she figured it out.

She couldn't understand it, couldn’t recognize the tune, because he was singing in _Huttese_.

How had she not realized that earlier? He had told her that Huttese was his first language, and while he had almost no love for Tatooine, he made sure that he remained fluent in Huttese. This lullaby… it must have been something his mother had sang to him.

The thought almost brought tears to her eyes.

She had met Shmi, almost fourteen years ago, and remembered her as a kind woman. Padmé wished that Shmi would have been able to meet her grandchildren, and she knew that Anakin wished the same. Likely more intensely than she did, since Shmi was his mother, and Padmé knew how much Anakin had loved her.

Shmi would have loved Luke and Leia, they knew that for a fact.

After she took a few seconds to calm herself down, she quietly opened the nursery door, and saw her husband, pacing the room, holding one of the babies. He was still singing, but when he looked up and saw her, he stopped.

_No, keep going_ , she thought, but before she could say it, Anakin spoke.

“Luke’s still asleep, but Leia was crying,” he whispered. “I think she’s hungry, I was going to make her a bottle once she’d calmed down a bit.” The baby against his chest, who Padmé could now see was Leia, let out another small cry.

“Hand her over,” she said, and Anakin did. He walked over to Luke’s crib as Padmé situated herself, and a little bit later, Leia was happily getting her nutrients. The four of them stayed in a content silence for a few minutes.

“What were you singing, when I walked in?” Padmé asked. Anakin looked up, taking his eyes off Luke, but not quite meeting her eyes yet. She knew to be patient, to wait for him to answer, that pushing him about it right then wouldn’t be good. After a bit, he answered.

“Just… something my mother sang to me,” he said slowly. A second passed, then he finally looked at her, and gave her a sad smile. “One of the best memories I have of that time.”

She knew how painfully bittersweet his childhood memories tended to be, so she smiled sadly back at him. She didn’t say anything, however, since it seemed like he more needed a listening ear, not comfort. After a short pause (to see if he wanted to talk about it more, which he apparently didn’t), she changed the subject.

“I think we’ll be able to go to Naboo soon,” she said, and she could see Anakin perk up a bit when she said it. He had always loved Naboo, and while neither of them planned to live there any time soon (as long as she was a senator, she’d have to stay on Coruscant more often than not, and he wanted to stay with her), they both loved going there when they could.

Before the twins were born, she thought she’d go to Naboo for the birth, so that her parents and her sister could be with her. She’d all but given up on Anakin being there, because of the secrecy of their marriage.

But then, Palpatine had shown his true colors. Though Anakin still wouldn’t go into much detail about what happened, what mattered is that the Chancellor was a Sith, and that now, he was dead.

Anakin left the Jedi Order the next day.

The next few days had been _very_ chaotic. Before they could even start making preparations to go to Naboo, she had gone into labor. The med droids she had seen during her pregnancy, they had only informed her of her children’s health, not that she was having _twins_ , so that was a big surprise. Thankfully, by the end of it, both her and the twins were fine, and a few days later, the new parents were able to take their babies home.

Obi-Wan and Ahsoka had already come by to see the twins. Anakin and Obi-Wan had had a long conversation, before Anakin had gone to speak to the Council and resign. He told her that Obi-Wan had admitted to knowing _something_ was going on between them (though, he had thought it was simply a fling, perhaps a friends-with-benefits situation, not a marriage), and that he wanted what was best for Anakin. He had wished that Anakin had been honest before, but what was done, was done.

Though he looked vaguely uncomfortable, he had smiled, when he held Luke.

While things would never be the same, between the two of them, Padmé knew that they still loved each other. She would go as far as to say they seemed like brothers. The war was almost over, by now, and once it was, she knew Obi-Wan would likely visit more.

Ahsoka would, too.

She had come back from Mandalore worried about Anakin. Apparently, Maul had told her that Anakin was going to be a piece in Sidious’s game, and while she hadn’t trusted Maul, his warning was still weighing heavy on her mind.

Arriving on Coruscant to find Darth Sidious dead, and Anakin having left the Jedi because he was about to be a father?

“ _That was a bit of a shock_ ,” Ahsoka had admitted later.

She was finally able to catch up with Obi-Wan and Anakin, and they had all exchanged stories of what had happened, while they were apart. Padmé was glad that Anakin had gotten to spend so much time with his friends (his family, really, in all but blood), and she knew they would continue to stay close, no matter where their lives led them.

Leia finished her feeding, which broke Padmé out of her train of thought. She covered herself back up again, and a little bit later, finished burping her. Anakin, still on the other side of the room, was picking up Luke, who had woken up and started to become fussy.

“No sleep for us, huh?” Padmé said, getting up so she could walk around the room with Leia, hopefully to lull her back to sleep. Anakin nodded, holding Luke to his chest.

“No sleep for us,” he agreed. “Maybe when we’re on Naboo, we can get someone in your family to watch them, and we can take a nice, long nap.”

“Don’t tempt me,” Padmé said, jokingly. “I don’t know why I never appreciated naps, before. They’re the best thing in the world now.”

“Love naps,” Anakin said, nodding. After a pause, he laughed softly. “Look at us, we’re boring now. We’re like Obi-Wan. Next thing you know, we’ll be drinking _tea_ every morning, and talking about, I don’t know, politics.”

“We already talk about politics, Ani, I’m a senator,” she said. “I think Leia’s asleep now, let’s switch babies.”

They switched, and Padmé situated herself (again) and started to feed Luke, while Anakin put Leia back in her crib. It was still hours until sunrise, so Padmé knew once they were finished, she’d be able to sleep at least a few more hours before the day really started. Hopefully Anakin would be able to, as well, since he still probably needed to catch up on some sleep. The war had taken a toll on him, and those nightmares hadn’t helped. He no longer had nightmares about her dying ( _and thank Shiraya for that_ , Padmé thought), but it had kept him from being able to sleep for more than a few hours at a time, even before the twins were born.

Anakin sat down next to her, and leaned his head back. “Do you think we should stay on Naboo for the rest of your maternity leave, or come back here before it’s over?” he asked.

Padmé had been thinking about that, as well. She missed her family quite a bit, she hadn’t seen them for months, before her pregnancy was even showing. In addition to that, she missed Naboo itself, she loved her home planet. It would be amazing for her, and for the rest of her family, to go back there for a while.

But…

Naboo was very peaceful. Which was _great_ , and she loved that about it, but she was the Queen when the Trade Federation came to Naboo. Then, she was a Senator during wartime. And her husband, he was a General.

She didn’t think either of them really knew what to _do_ , on such a peaceful planet. Being there longterm was… well, she didn’t want to talk bad on her home planet, but it could get boring.

“I think we’ll decide while we’re there,” she answered truthfully.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

They continued to talk quietly for a bit, about the details of going to Naboo, until Luke finished his feeding. Anakin burped him as she covered herself back up (again, since twins meant doing everything twice, it seemed), and before too long, Luke was asleep in his crib.

She leaned on Anakin’s shoulder as they looked at their sleeping children.

“I love you,” she whispered. Whether she meant that for Anakin, for Luke, for Leia, she didn’t know. It was for all three of them, really. Since Anakin was the only one out of those three who could _speak_ , he responded.

“I love you, too.” he said. “All of you.”

They watched the babies sleep for a few more minutes, then left the nursery to finally go back to bed.

She cuddled up next to Anakin, and smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> some little thoughts for this 'verse: 1) about the inhibitor chips in the clones, they don't know about those yet, because order 66 was never given. however, soon, they actually look into what fives was saying, and they find out about the chips and they get taken out. 2) anakin teaches the twins huttese, so they grow up bilingual. 3) happily ever after ;)


End file.
